SFO's Climate Story

SFO is a nationally recognized sustainability leader in the aviation industry for its history of climate action, environmental policy, sustainability reporting, alternative transportation infrastructure procurement and progressive infrastructure development to maximize economic and social returns. Key actions include:

SustainabilitySFO’s mission is to provide an exceptional airport in service to our communities. To advance that mission, SFO adopted the airport-specific EONS developed by the Airports Council International (ACI) – North America(1). EONS defines airport sustainability as “a holistic approach to managing an airport so as to ensure the integrity of the Economic viability, Operational efficiency, Natural Resource conservation, and Social responsibility of the airport”. SFO released four Sustainability Reports that applied this template to present historic social and environmental outcomes of its programs and projects.

Climate ActionThe Airport Commission has vigorously supported the City’s climate change directives, including Ordinance No. 81-08, Climate Change Goals and Action Plan, which mandates the achievement of the following GHG emission targets by each City Department:

25% >1990 emissions by 2017

40% >1990 emissions by 2025

80% >1990 emissions by 2050

Airport Carbon AccreditationSFO developed its Departmental Climate Action Plan (DCAP) in Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 (July through June) as the blueprint for meeting the Ordinance 81-08 objectives and achieving total mitigation of the carbon footprint of SFO controlled operations. In March 2016, the Airport Carbon Accreditation (ACA) (1) certified SFO, one of the only two airports in North America, as a Level 3 (Optimization) airport. This advanced certification recognizes the Airport’s reduction of GHG emissions from operations under its direct control by 38% from a 1990 baseline and acknowledges its well-developed collaborative efforts with Airport stakeholders to reduce their respective GHG emissions by:

Reducing energy consumption by 10,938 megawatt-hours per year.

Planting more than 2,000 trees, thus eliminating 120 tons of CO2 per year.

Conserving water usage across its campus by 37%.

Improving 558 acres of wetlands throughout the Bay Area.

2014

Natural Resource Conservation

Economic Viability

Social Responsibility

Operational Efficiency

Airport Council International's "EONS"

2015

Get 2 Zero

Industry Leadership

Safeguard & Protect

Technology & Transport

Goals

2016

Objective 1:Zero Net Energy

Objective 2:Zero Waste

Objective 3a:Zero Carbon

Objective 5:Water Conservation

Ojbective 4:Healthy Buildings

Objective 3b: Transportation

5-Year Strategic Plan Objectives

SFO’s historic and current Sustainability pillars serve as the launching point for the Airport to achieve its net zero objectives by the end of the 5-Year Strategic Plan cycle of 2021. It will also inform the next generation initiatives, that will not only future-proof the airport of our harsh climate realties, but also offer back the net positive gains for the communities the Airport serves.

(1)The ACA is administered by the European chapter of Airports Council International.